The Start of a Beautiful New Year!

It was so hard staying away from blogland for my break!! I kept straying over to the computer and then having to tell myself ...no... go back to the studio or..... go start getting out the cookie ingredients for when the kids wake up. LOL!! I missed you all terribly, but I had fantastic Christmas and New Years with my family and got spend some real quality time with my little ones.

I have so much to share! But today, lets start with some mail goodies. The sweet and lovely Gracie at Gracie Bella Buttefly held a giveaway and I won some of her fantastic cards! Look at how prettily they were wrapped! So pretty I felt bad about opening them :)And here are the beautiful notecards inside that pretty wrapping - complete with little envelopes and matching stickers! Sooo cute! She is such a talented paper artist and I can't wait to use these!! Thank you Gracie!!
I also had the incredible good fortune to win the holiday blog giveaway at ARTful Paper Dreams! I was a new reader of Jen's lovely blog and was just overjoyed to win some of her lovely creations. The level of detail and meticulous construction on her tags is amazing! So hard to use them on someone else's packages! :)
This one is long overdue being posted. I received these pretty pink earrings from Roxi a few months ago. I just started wearing them right away and forgot to take a photo ... but I saved her stunning earring card (handmade from start to finish and perfectly complimenting the earrings) and have reunited the earrings and card for this shot. They are beautiful Roxi!!


And now .. to start the new year, two gifts for you! I have eclectic tastes so these are a bit non-traditional, but maybe that will be good since they will be a little different! First, a gift of beauty. This new retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" with watercolors by Angela Barrett is worth a look for the beautiful, ethereal pictures alone. The occasional two page spreads are breathtakingly gorgeous!
And second, a gift of mystery. If you've ever seen the movie "Lost in Translation" and wondered what Bill Murray whispers to Scarlett in that final scene ... here it is revealed! Personally, I had a hard time making it out even after the tinkering, but what he says does make perfect sense. If you haven't seen the movie, it's very good and I highly recommend it.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with your loved ones and that 2008 is off to a great start for you!!!